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Best Buy (Photo credit: kevin dooley)

The drums are beating louder as Richard Schulze pressures Best Buy's board of directors to let him take the company private. The former executive team, the ones who built Best Buy are on board, there's private equity involved and the founder himself -- determined to get the job done.

Former Best Buy executives are in Minneapolis, working hard to get this deal done. This morning, Schulze sent a letter to Best Buy's board:

On August 6, after repeated requests to the Board to provide me with due diligence information and the consent to form a group required under Minnesota law, I made public my proposal to acquire all of the common stock of Best Buy for $24.00 to $26.00 per share in cash. In response, you dismissed my carefully considered proposal as a “highly conditional indication of interest.” I would have preferred to have a constructive private dialogue with the Board, but once having made my proposal, I was required as a 13D filer to make it public.

You can easily test how real my proposal is by granting me permission to form a group and by providing basic due diligence information necessary to present a fully financed offer and allow shareholders the opportunity to receive a substantial cash premium for their shares.

I am deeply concerned about the direction of the company and, as Best Buy’s largest shareholder, I cannot simply stand aside. I still hope to work with the Board on a mutually beneficial transaction – but you should know that I am not going away.

Schulze is tenacious. He had to be, building the nation's largest consumer electronics chain, knocking out all bigger competitors, developing an entirely new business model in the category and making quite a few mistakes along the way. What always impressed me about Best Buy's leadership was their ability to acknowledge the mistakes, learn from them and go outside the company for answers and help. Schulze and former CEO Brad Anderson were tenacious sure, but also inquisitive and humble.

Things were done under this same management team that helped spur Best Buy's decline, things now seem more clearly thanks time and distance. There were things done right too, don't forget, and precious little has been done right since they left.

Going back to old leadership can absolutely work. Just look at what Steve Jobs did with Apple. If he hadn't returned, Apple might well be in the dust heap of history and we'd have a very different kind of device in our pockets.

Schulze is asking for a hearing. An opportunity to present his plan. A chance for Best Buy to make some bold and fundamental changes. In his letter to Best Buy's board he says:

I have identified a leadership team, including Brad Anderson, Allen Lenzmeier and others, with the wisdom, experience and sound judgment needed for the company to succeed once again. This team has a history of successfully growing and reinventing Best Buy in response to ever-changing industry conditions. I have shared this plan in depth with the private equity firms prepared to partner with me -- and they believe it is the right plan and the right leadership.

Going back in time isn't the answer, but back to people who had a vision, passion, drive and ability to make tough choices on behalf of the company is. And since what's best for the company may be different than what is best for the shareholders, going private is the right thing.

This isn't just putting the band back together again, as one former Best Buy executive recently told me. It's putting a group of thoughtful, passionate leaders back in a position to drive change. In his letter, Schulze mentions the erosion of Best Buy's culture and employee morale, so important in a successful operation:

Best Buy faces enormous challenges, not the least of which is an erosion of its culture and values. It is critical that the company have leadership with the retail experience, knowledge, insight, and passion needed to win back customers, inspire employees, and reinvigorate Best Buy’s trusted brand and culture of valued employees working together to satisfy our customers.

These critical components have been eroding for quite some time and the promise of some real change in leadership is cause for some cheer and shared by the Best Buy employees -- current and former -- who have emailed and shared my posts. People in the stores and the executive suite are clamoring for a change, and seem ready to welcome back the old guys. Just not the board.

Value is eroding every day, writes Schulze. The ball is in the board's court.